First off, there were far too many “punny” titles for this post (almost none of which I thought up on my own/didn’t steal from an internet meme) – “Children of the Corncrake” – “Jimmy Crake Corn and I don’t care” – “Crexit through the gift shop”…you get the idea. By now, it’s a well known saga involving the Long Island … Read More

Rare birds are cool. This much we know. But what happens when a rare bird transitions from a neat stroke of birding luck to a downright biological discovery? That’s when the real fun begins and we get to go beyond birding. When migratory birds turn up in places they are not supposed to be, everyone gets jazzed to see it … Read More

April 17th, the first full day of our Nemesis Bird Nature Tour to south Texas, brought us to the headquarters of Laguna Atascosa NWR. This vast refuge is one of the last homes for Aplomado Falcons and Ocelots in the United States, but our sights were set on hunting down a visiting rarity – the immature male Crimson-collared Grosbeak that has been hanging out … Read More

Trumpeter Swans are rare but increasing in Pennsylvania, and more are found every year. Many of the swans found in PA have yellow neck-collars or yellow wing-tags from the Ontario reintroduction efforts. However, there has been an interesting rush of sightings of 3 different neck-collared Trumpeter Swans in PA since March 10th; all of which have stained, white neck-collars with 4-digit codes on … Read More

On February 27th, Steve Arena discovered the first Massachusetts record of Yellow-billed Loon at the infamous Race Point at the tip of Cape Cod. This huge loon species is a hard bird to see almost anywhere in the Lower 48, only found occasionally along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. This first-winter immature is only the second record along the East Coast, and … Read More

This past Saturday was the Cape May See Life Paulagics trip, and our boat-full of eager birders were in for a great day on the ocean. We sailed out of the Cape May canal while the first hint of light rose above the horizon, passing 2 Harlequin Ducks, 7 Great Cormorants, 30 American Oystercatchers, and a nice spattering of the usual seaducks around … Read More

November turned out to be a pretty good month for rare birds in New England. Sure, the Buffalo Bills lost to the Patriots for about the zillionth time. And of course all of my documentation photos/videos are too soft, too blurry, or just too distant. And yes, I was the only person on the east coast to miss a Franklin’s … Read More

For the 3rd August in a row, I’ve managed to find myself on Paulagics fantastic overnight pelagics. This year they have moved to a new boat, the Brooklyn IV, and a new dock in Brooklyn which is more convenient than the old spot in Freeport. There had been several fantastic pelagics just north and south of us recently, including double-digit … Read More

East coast pelagic birding is what it is. Usually it’s relatively unproductive (ignoring the pelagic birding off of North Carolina) with low numbers of individuals, and you’re lucky to see one or two rare or heavily sought after pelagic species. On the west coast it is not unusual to see hundreds of shearwaters and tens of thousands of storm-petrels, plus the rare … Read More